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The SpeedZone: PowerBook A Desktop Replacement? ... G5 Power Mac Trounces G4/1.33 GHz PowerBook - A Performance Report

11/12/03

by David Engstrom

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Performance Details

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Below we compare the top of the line PowerBook, the 17 G4/133 MHz, to the bottom of the line Power Mac, the 1.6 GHz G5. As you'll see from the results below, in basic processing the Power Mac is roughly 38% faster than the PowerBook. Not bad given that the clock-speed of the Power Mac is only a 20% increase over the PowerBook. The Power Mac is undoubtedly helped by its faster processor sub-system, in particular its fast System Bus.

One of the most annoying thing about the performance of PowerBooks is their relative slow drive speed, and in this department the current 17 inch PowerBook is no exception. In our multiple file copy test the Power Mac blew past the PowerBook by 51%, and in the single file test, the Power Mac bested the PowerBook by a whopping 121%.

In graphics performance things were more mixed, but the Power Mac consistently came out ahead, and was 51% faster in our basic on-screen graphics test.

There were some instances where the G4 PowerBook came out ahead, but we believe that this was because the programs used in these tests were specifically optimized for the G4, and may need to be reworked to run well on the G5.

Performance issues that separate the two machines:

  • PowerBook has a 167 MHz System Bus ... The Power Mac a 800 MHz one
  • The Power Mac has a better graphics card seated in a faster slot
  • The PowerBook's drive spins at 4200 rpm .... The Power Mac's at 7200 rpm
  • The Power Mac's optical 'SuperDrive' is faster

It is clear that the PowerBook needs to do some catching up before it can be considered a desktop replacement ... at least in the performance arena.

What machine would you buy?

Difference and similarities of each machine
 

PowerBook G4/1.33GHz
(#M9110LL/A)

Power Mac G5/1.6 GHz
Single Processor (#M9020LL/A)
Processors 1 x G4/1.33GHz 1 x G5/1.6 GHz
L2 Cache 512K L2 @ 1.33 GHz 512K L2 @ 1.6 GHz
L3 Cache None None
Bus Speed 167 MHZ Frontside bus 800 MHZ Frontside bus
Memory

1 GB PC2700
333MHz DDR SDRAM

2 GB max

1.25 GB PC2700
333MHz DDR SDRAM

4 GB max

Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 with 64MB of DDR SDRAM
4x AGP		 NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
64MB DDR SDRAM
AGP 8X Pro graphics slot
Drive 80 GB Ultra ATA/100
4200rpm		 80GB Serial ATA
7200 rpm
CD Drive

SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

CD read - 24x
DVD read - 8x
DVD write 2x
CD-R write - 16x
CD-RW write - 4x

SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW)

Reads CDs at 32x
Reads DVDs at 8x
Writes DVD-R at 4x
Writes CD-R at 16x
Writes CD-RW at 10x
PCI slots None Three open full-length 33MHz, 64-bit PCI slots
Operating System 10.2.7 10.2.7
Price $2,999 $1,999

"Real World" Tests

Basic Processor Function

CineBench 2003 Single CPU Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores 121 166

CINEBENCH 2003 consists of a series of tests. This one tests basic processing performance. As you can see from this processor test, the 1.6 GHz machine, clocked just about 20% faster, turns in just about 37% better performance. You can run this test on your own machine by downloading the CineBench program. There is a version of CineBench that is partially optimized for the G5, which we estimate will bump up the score of the G5 machine to aproximately 214, or 177% the performance of the G4 PowerBook. Maxon, the creators of CineBench, believe that further optimization of the program for the G5 is possible, and should yield an even higher score.

AltiVec Fractal (Carbon)

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 40.15 46.26

The Fractal program has been highly tuned to take advantage of the G4 and is precisely the type of work that the G4 was made for. It will also gobble up whatever processing capability is present. This is a good test for assessing the fundamental processing potential of each machine. The program has not yet been tailored to take advantage of the G5, and it shows. If you would like to compare your machine to these results download the Fractal program and set the fractal to run at a maximum count of 65536


Desktop Tests    

Re-Boot Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 60.53 48.28

 

Copy 900 MB Folder Containing Thousands Of Files Of Various Sizes

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 221.17 146.64

The copy folder test not only stresses drive performance but also takes advantage of faster processing capability & caching schemes. The Power Mac's faster drive runs rings around the PowerBook

Copy Single 1.2 GB File

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 148.06 67.04

In the single file test the the processor & caching capability of the machine is less of a factor. Again it is a run-away for the Power Mac

Import QuickTime DV Into iMovie

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 32.20 18.45

We imported a 175 MB DV file into iMovie 3. Drive performance is a factor here

Burn CD

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 111.91 73.82

CD burning only uses a fraction of the processor to get the work done. The machines both have a SuperDrive, but the Power Mac's is a faster version

Let 1000 Windows Bloom

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 41.17 27.20

Let 1K Windows Bloom is a simple carbon application that opens and closes 1,000 windows. This gauges how fast screen redraws are taking place. You can download the small program to run on your machine, and compare your scores to the ones here. On screen graphics are much more snappy on the Power Mac.

Launch Photoshop

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 17.88 13.15

We used a 21 MB files to open Photoshop 7 by dropping it on the Photoshop icon. A trial version of Photoshop 7 can be downloaded if you want to run your own test.

Finder File Search

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 43.63 36.11

Mac OS X's new File Search function relies on both processor and drive performance. In this test we are searching the file names of thousands of items, contained in two folders.


Large Document & Database Type Tests

Microsoft Office X Word Macro

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 68.34 59.44

A Macro (series of complex actions) was run in Microsoft's Word processing program on a 1.6 MB document. Word is part of Office X

Microsoft Office X Excel Macro

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 42.33 50.41

A Macro (series of complex actions) was run in Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet program, on a 8 MB file. Excel is part of Office X

We have no explanation for the low scores of the G5 Power Mac in the Office tests. It could be that Office needs to be optimized to run better on the G5 processor (like the Fractal program above). There are no apparent hardware differences that would make the PowerBook perform better in the Excel Test. At this time we would put the two results above in the category 'Unexplained Oddity', that needs to be confirmed by other testers.

AppleWorks Search And Replace Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 60.19 39.19

This test takes place in a 3 MB AppleWorks document. Machines with larger chip caches usually do better in this test. The Power Mac is helped by the faster processor, but also by the speedy 800 MHz System Bus (the System Bus on the PowerBook clocks in at 167 MHz).

Graphics Test

CineBench 2003 4D Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores 144 198

This part of the CineBench program relies on the CPU for graphics rendering. This is basic processing 101.

CineBench 2003 Software GL Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores 385 468

This part of the CineBench program relies on the software for graphics rendering


CineBench 2003 Hardware GL Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores 655 838

This part of the CineBench program relies on the graphics card for graphics rendering. Download the program and run your own tests

Number Crunching & Rendering Tests

Photoshop 7 - BareFeat's Test

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 41.24 36.81

BareFeats Photoshop Test Suite - mimics a production type workflow in Photoshop. If you would like to run this test on your machine, and you don't have a copy of Photoshop, download it from Adobe (only advisable if you have a high-speed connection). Then download the action file and drop it on the Photoshop icon

Photoshop 7 - AltiVec Tests

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 57.90 41.71

This suite of filters was run on a 21 MB file. We did not use the G5 plug-in Adobe has developed, but BareFeats tested with and without it and found very little difference in performance

Photoshop 7 - Normal Tests

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 87.70 68.20

The test above consists of Photoshop filters and functions that do not take any particular advantage of the G4. Again we used the 21 MB file.

iMovie - Effect Render

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 130.56 96.11

In this test, an Aged Effect is run on a 175 MB DV file using iMovie 3.03, with the Effect left at its default setting This is a processor intensive task

Encoding/Decoding Tests

QuickTime 6.3 Encode

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 34.31 23.38

A 5MB movie is converted to a QuickTime movie using default setting

QuickTime 6.3 Convert To DV Stream

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 136.29 112.37

The 5 MB Movie is converted to a DV Stream ready for import into iMovie. Default setting was used

iDVD Import

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 78.04 39.09

175 MB DV file is imported into iDVD ready for burning to a DVD disk. Incredible performance of the Power Mac, over the PowerBook, is probably due to a combination of factors, including faster drive performance and high-speed System Bus.

StuffIt Expand

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 50.43 46.56

This test was performed on a 23 MB StuffIt file that contained thousands of individual files. We would have expected the Power Mac to do much better. Both of the machines had their processors saturated during this test.

Multitasking

QuickTime Encode + Fractal (Multitasking)

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 69.05 67.50

QuickTime Encode and Fractal render are both carried out at the same time. Power Mac is hurt by G4 optimized Fractal

QuickTime DV + iMovie Effect Render (Multitasking)

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - seconds 260.67 209.64

QuickTime DV Encode and iMovie Effect are performed at the same time

Gaming

Giants Highest Frame Rates

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - frames per second 66 88

Giants Average Frame Rates

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - frames per second 25.7 34

Giants Lowest Frame Rates

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - frames per second 14 21

Our testing with the Giants game has shown that it responds well to faster processors. To obtain frame rates we take the character out for a jog around a predetermined route and note the frame rates at the same intervals within the circuit. Considering the limitations of the PowerBook ... it does a fairly good job of keeping up here.

4x4 EVO 2 Average Frame Rates- High Quality Setting

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - frames per second 19.5 28

4x4 EVO 2 Average Frame Rates- Medium Quality Setting

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - frames per second 30 57

4x4 EVO 2 Average Frame Rates- Low Quality Setting

Machine PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz Power Mac Single G5/1.6 GHz
Absolute Scores - frames per second 43 61

4x4 EVO 2 is a very demanding game. It would appear that the graphics card is doing most of the work here. The Power Mac clearly has the much better graphics card ... as far at this game is concerned

OK you have seen the results .... What machine would you buy?

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